Monday, February 28, 2005

My initial instinct was to call it 'wicked,' but then I shuddered in revulsion. Please, PLEASE don't make anything I think into a Chris Isaak song. Anything but that.

The game goes like this:

Players A and B Go Out. A series of moves are made. Then, Player A unexpectedly plays the Just Be Friends card. By this point, though, Player B has Fallen In Love with Player A. Now the game gets particularly tricky: It's not as if Player A has used Total Rejection, or even It's Not You It's Me, both of which can cause Despondency, but can be more readily deflected by Angry Counter-Rejection or Drinking With Buddies -- occasionally, even by Casual Sex or the Interjection card 'Rebound!'

Player B is trapped between the desire to discard their hand in an effort to draw a Moving On, and the hopes of holding out for either Another Chance or even the hard-to-find Realization of True Love.

Player B's interactions with Player A are rather complicated now. At this point, even if she draws it, Player B will almost certainly lack the Energy to play Moving On. Barring ending the Game by playing the drastic Down With Love!, garnering Interest Points from Player A (or indeed, any other Players) is extremely difficult whilst Despondent. He must have an ample stock of Appearance of Happiness, otherwise Player A may easily counter with You're Too Needy. Unfortunately, Appearance of Happiness is very Energy consuming, which Player B is already in debt of, and causes very high susceptibility to Jealousy. The hardest part for Player B is that Severing of All Contact when at a negative Energy level will lead to almost certain Depression, un-curable by cards such as 'Rebound!' His main source of Energy is still Player A, even under the auspices of Just Be Friends. Therefore, Player B is stuck trying to Just Hang Out with Player A, or resisting, using Flying Solo Tonight, and hoping to avoid pitfalls such as Depressed Lonely Saturday.

I've never been Player B before, and it's a confusing position, to be sure.

P.S. -- There's someone who reads this on occasion who mentioned being Depressed recently themselves. I'd like to talk to them about it, and some of the strategies involved with this Game.